Remonstrators who decried the traffic conditions on 109th Avenue during the Crown Point Plan Commission meeting last month got a shock last week when they were named in a lawsuit by the owners whose development the commission denied.

Plan Commission Attorney Joe Irak at Monday night’s Plan Commission meeting told three of the the 13 remonstrators — Floyd Mowry, and William and Eileen Blosser — that they’re not being sued.

Rather, naming remonstrators in a suit is standard procedure because it gives the remonstrators a chance to hire their own attorneys and participate in the suit if they wish.

“If (the plaintiffs) didn’t alert you to the suit, and all of a sudden, the Plan Commission’s ruling is overturned, and (the plaintiff) starts building, (the remonstrators) might say they would’ve liked to take part. It’s just procedural.”

But seeing a sheriff’s officer leave a summons in one’s mailbox was unnerving, the Blossers said.

“We didn’t force a lawsuit; we came to give an opinion on the traffic,” William Blosser told the commission. “How (the suit) involves me, I don’t understand, and we’re asking (Irak) if he’s going to represent us, too.”

“We didn’t even talk about the subdivision being built because we know it’s going to happen,” Eileen Blosser said. “Our concern is the traffic.”

Irak said he couldn’t represent the remonstrators because he represents the commission, but if they want to hire their own attorneys and appear in court, they could.

The owners of the Fricke Farm property — among them Bruce Fricke, William Fricke and Dawn Fricke — along with CalAtlantic Homes of Indiana, filed the suit in Lake Superior Court on Aug. 8, seeking to overturn the commission’s decision to deny the 212-lot subdivision planned for the southwest corner of 109th Avenue and Iowa Street.

Part of Edgewater plans for the farm’s development were originally conceived in 2014 but fell through; CalAtlantic Homes picked it up.

The subdivision, already zoned R-2 from the previous bid, would’ve produced single-family homes in the 1,595- to 2,400-square-foot range and townhouses in the 1,597- to 1,800-square-foot range, said Randy Wyllie, attorney for CalAtlantic.

Wyllie said the subdivision was seeking an R-2 setback for some 83 houses with three-car garages, which would modify one of the subdivision’s original commitments.

Residents in the area, however, were upset that anyone would consider adding more housing.

“When any kind of bad accident happens or there’s bad weather, (109th) is backed up for miles,” Eileen Blosser said at the July 9 meeting.

“For people who live in Waterside Crossing, it’s difficult for us to get out.”

Also concerning 109th, Mowry presented to the commission a 660-signature petition against the proposed roundabouts for the road.

“Roundabouts are set up for 15 miles per hour, and no one’s going to do that. They’ll hit it at 25 miles per hour,” Mowry said. “I think the roundabout is wrong, and I don’t want it.”

Plan Commission President John Marshall said the petition should be presented to the Board of Works and Public Safety, but that the commission would take it under advisement.

Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.